Spiked Roses: The Complete Top Shelf Series

by Alta Hensley

  Allen and Joseph had thought I was insane when I told them, and even Harley had thought I was overreacting, but I didn’t care. I knew I was making the right decision. It was the best for me, and most definitely the best for Ivy. Even if it meant losing her forever, at least I would know she was safe.

  As Ivy stirred awake, I turned to see she was opening her eyes and stretching her body, greeting me with a smile.

  “Well, hello, sleepyhead,” I said, taking in her disheveled look and loving every inch of it.

  She looked around and outside at the setting sun. “What time is it? Did I sleep all day?” She sat up quickly as if panicked that she had missed something.

  “You clearly needed your rest.”

  Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she asked, “Were you in here all day? Just watching me sleep?”

  “No. Marlowe was in here with you while I took care of some business. Just in case you woke up, I didn’t want you to be alone.”

  “Business?” Worry washed over her face. “What’s going to happen now?”

  A heavy, thick lump of despair formed in my stomach as I knew what I needed to tell her. I didn’t want to say the words that would force me to lose Ivy—my special doll—forever, but I knew there was no other way.

  “I’ve shut production down of Drayton’s Dolls permanently.”

  Her head tilted, and her eyes narrowed. I could see she wasn’t processing my words fully. “I don’t understand. What do you mean shutting down production? Until whoever is behind the attacks is caught? Is that what you mean?”

  I took a deep breath and stood, struggling to not go and sit by her because I feared I would just kiss her and forget what I was supposed to do. “No. I’ll find out who is responsible with Harley’s help, but it won’t stop there even if we kill the bastards. Harley has confirmed that there is a large bounty on each doll’s head on the black market. If someone got a hold of one of you, there would be a bidding war in the sex slave trade. I can’t live with myself if one of you were kidnapped and sold at some sick fucker’s auction.” I turned to look out the window again, not wanting to look into Ivy’s beautiful green eyes. “It’s not safe to be a Drayton Doll any longer. Therefore, I am eliminating The Dolls and The Dollhouse immediately. I won’t be holding any more art exhibits that involve the dolls ever again.”

  “You’re going to just give everything up?” The raised pitch in her tone, told me enough without me even having to turn to look at her. She was reacting like all the other dolls did when I told them that they were no longer going to be a Drayton Doll.

  “I don’t want you to worry,” I began. “Every doll will be compensated. I’m going to go ahead and vest everyone as if they had served their full three years.”

  “You can’t do this,” she said. “You can’t just shut down The Dolls. It’s your art! It means so much to all of us. What about all the other women? They can’t possibly want you to shut down production.”

  I turned to face her and offered the best fake smile that I could. “Today’s the day that everyone’s dream gets to come true. Every doll inside that house today left with the funds to begin their new life. To live their dreams they always had.”

  “They all left? Just like that? Without saying goodbye?”

  “Yes. Everyone exchanged their contact info, and they left theirs for you inside. I didn’t want a big production over everyone leaving. Everyone’s been through enough heartache and shed enough tears for a lifetime. And we didn’t have a lot of time. You all can connect with each other after this awful ordeal is over and each of you are safe and no longer a doll. Harley wasn’t sure how long his house would truly be safe. If word got out that the dolls were located in his house, more people could come with the same intention of what happened at The Dollhouse. The only option was to split everyone up now, and quickly.” The look on Ivy’s face stabbed at my gut. She appeared heartbroken with the news. “This isn’t a bad thing. It’s good. Everyone gets to start their dream early. Put all this death and misery behind us.”

  “But what about your dream? Drayton’s Dolls was everything to you. You had worked so hard to build it to the reputation it had. What about Japan? We worked so hard.”

  “My dream got three women killed. And I almost lost the woman I loved all because of a kinky fetish art piece. My dream became a nightmare right before me, and I was completely blind and helpless to stop it. I won’t make that same mistake again.”

  Ivy’s eyes grew wide and her body froze. In the softest of voices, she asked, “The woman you love? Is that what you just said?”

  I hadn’t realized I had said the words. They were the truth, but I hadn’t meant to just blurt them out like that. I did love Ivy. I knew this. I’d known this a long time ago, but facing the reality that I almost lost Ivy made the fact of how much I truly loved her all the more powerful.

  “That’s what I said.”

  Her eyes welled up with tears. “You love me?”

  I nodded and slowly made my way to her, lifting her out of the bed to pull her into an embrace. The soft cotton of the nightgown she still wore from the night before allowed me to feel every curve of her body as I held her firmly to my chest. If we could only have stayed like that forever, not having to face the future, not having to get ready to say our goodbyes.

  Not ready to let her go, I still held tightly as I asked, “So, I’ll ask you the same thing I asked all the dolls earlier. What is your future dream? College? Start a business? Do you plan to go back to your home town in Mississippi?” I didn’t want to hear the answer, but I also knew there was no denying my time with my doll had come to an end.

  She shook her head, her face pressed against my chest. Her arms held onto my back as if she never wanted to let me go. “No. I don’t want college. I don’t want to start a business. I definitely don’t want to go back to Mississippi, though I’ll always help my family financially from afar. I’ll find a way for that no matter what.”

  “Then what dream do you want? I don’t want you to hold back. I know you haven’t worked for me for long, but you deserve the same thing as every other one of those dolls if not more. So tell me. I’ll help you make that dream happen.”

  She pulled away enough so she could look up into my eyes. “Anything?”

  Her delicate features staring up at me made me want to swoop her up into my arms, lower her down onto that bed, and make mad passionate love to her. But I had to stay focused. I had to do what was right for everyone before another incident occurred.

  “Anything,” I said.

  “My dream is you,” she whispered.

  My heart skipped a beat. I wasn’t sure if I heard her correctly. “What was that?”

  “You said you would help me achieve my dream. Well… my dream is to be with you. Not as your doll, but to be that woman you just admitted to loving.” A single tear fell from her eye. “Because before you, I didn’t have any dreams. I had nothing but loud chaos knocking against every nerve in my body. But not now. You have silenced my storm.”

  “But you deserve so much better. You deserve a future that you can shape however you please. I’m now offering you the resources so you can do that.”

  “I don’t want your money. I want you. Because you, Victor Drayton, are the man that I have fallen in love with as well.”

  Her words were like an explosion detonating inside my gut, my heart, my soul. She said the words that I should have been thrilled to hear, and yet I hated them as well. She wasn’t supposed to want to stay. She was supposed to want to leave like all the other dolls had done. She was supposed to take my financial support and run off to follow her forever dream. It was the only way to keep her safe. To prevent her from being attacked again because of my name. I couldn’t risk her safety for the sake of love. I just couldn’t.

  “No,” I said firmly.

  “But you said you would make my dream come true.”

  “No.”

  “But you said you loved me.”

  I bro
ke our embrace and walked a few feet away, keeping my back to her. “No matter what my feelings are for you, I can’t make that dream of yours come true,” I said, though the words killed me to say. “There are too many sick bastards out there who want to hurt The Dolls. You staying with me will only put your life at risk. What if you’re kidnapped and sold to the highest bidder?” I turned to face her, noticing that tears ran down her pale cheeks. “I couldn’t live with myself. I’m staring at bruises on your face because of me and my fucked up vision of The Dolls. I allowed Drayton’s Dolls to become a kinky, sexually depraved peep show for the sickest people in the world to lust after.”

  “But that wasn’t your intention, or your fault,” Ivy said as she walked toward me and extended her hands, which I refused to take.

  “Ill intentions or not, it’s what happened.”

  “So what now for you?” she asked. “What do you plan to do?”

  That was a good question that I really didn’t have the answer to. “I still own several galleries. I’ll focus on running those with the help of Allen and Joseph. I’ll eventually work on my art again… maybe.”

  The sadness in Ivy’s eyes quickly changed to fury. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this. So, you’re just going to send me off with a large check. Is that it? Like you did with all the other dolls?” Her fists balled up, and her back stiffened. “I thought I was different. You said I was. I believed you. I was your special doll, or was that just kinky, sexual and depraved as well?”

  Fuck. The last thing I wanted was to piss her off.

  “No, not at all. Ivy, we had something different. I couldn’t describe it then, and I sure as hell can’t describe it now. I mean it when I say I love you. I fell in love with that firecracker inside of you that you somehow learned how to contain. I watched you dance with the fire and became mesmerized by your beauty as you did so.”

  “Well then, don’t extinguish my flame. Don’t cast me off like you did the others. If I’m special like you say, and if you do truly love me, then allow me to stay. I want to remain with you. I want to help you run your galleries. I want you to teach me how. Give me that career. Teach me how to be a gallery owner with you. You asked what I wanted as my dream, and I’m telling you. Give me the dream that I’m asking for.”

  “Your safety—”

  “Is not at risk if I’m no longer a doll. Those people involved in the black market only want a doll, right? Well, you just disbanded the dolls. I’m just Ivy Adams. Just a white trash girl from Mississippi who is in love with a wealthy as fuck artist. Looks like I’m getting my own personal Cinderella story right here. I would consider that the best dream anyone could ask for.”

  I walked up to her and cupped each side of her face with my hands. “Is this really what you want? Really?”

  She nodded and gave the softest smile.

  “You want to help me run my galleries?”

  “And help you with your art.” She nodded again. “It sounds fun. And I want to be by your side always. Is that so bad of a dream?”

  I shook my head. “No, that isn’t bad at all. It sounds like a dream to me as well.”

  “Then grant me it. Give me my dream today like you gave all the other dolls theirs.” She smiled warmly. “And one more thing. Japan. Can we still go to Japan? I was really looking forward to it. I wasn’t looking forward to the dancing.” She giggled. “Not at all. But I really wanted to see the country.”

  “Of course. I can make that happen.” I loved the idea of bringing Ivy with me to Japan—a place that forever would hold a special place in my heart.

  “Then my dream is now complete.”

  I couldn’t control my actions even if I tried. Pulling her into my arms, I held and squeezed her with all the built up passion I had been struggling to hold back. I wasn’t holding my special doll. No, not anymore. I was holding in my arms the woman I loved. I was holding the woman who had become my dream, my passion, my future muse. As I felt her heart beat against my chest, I knew that everything was changing between us. Ivy was no longer a Drayton Doll, and never again would I be expected to share what was mine. What would always be mine.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Ivy

  The blush took over my entire body without warning. I inhaled against the kiss and tried to regain my composure. The notorious Victor Drayton had a way of making me feel like a giddy little schoolgirl, even now when I was no longer one of his dolls.

  Victor smirked. “Are you sure you know what you are getting yourself into? There’s no three year vesting period if you choose this dream.”

  I tilted my head to look into Victor’s smiling eyes. The soft wrinkles at the edges gave his classic charm a sense of maturity that I found intoxicating. He kept my stare locked within his for what seemed like an eternity. His gaze single-handedly melted my heart. I oozed from the inside out. He had a power over my emotions that I was not used to allowing, and for that one reason, I knew I could never leave his side. His strength, his intoxicating dark demeanor, his aura just screamed out, Man.

  Without looking away, Victor slowly leaned in toward me, with his mouth only inches from mine. “I want to feel your lips on me.”

  He wasn’t asking permission, yet announcing his intent. So Victor Drayton. So fucking Victor Drayton.

  I looked down at his mouth and then back into his eyes and softly whispered, “I’d like that.”

  He placed a hand on each side of my head, and softly pressed his lips to mine. The touch sent tingles through my entire body. Never had a simple kiss given me such a powerful, intense reaction with anyone else—or even with Victor before now. It was just a kiss, and yet so much more. This wasn’t about passion like before. This wasn’t tied to sexual need or lust. This kiss now was about two people who finally confessed their feelings. This was a kiss of love.

  The power this man had over me…

  His mouth moved slowly along mine until his tongue lightly pressed past my lips. The warmth, and the wetness, increased the desire building inside my core. His fingers caressed my hair softly as his tongue continued to explore. A kiss, a high-inducing kiss, was more than I could imagine. I could smell Victor, taste Victor, and feel Victor. I wanted more. I wanted the kiss to last forever—never wanting his lips to leave mine.

  “You feel so right,” Victor murmured between our entwined breaths.

  The sound of his voice, muffled by the kiss, provoked an involuntary gasp, revealing how locked in his hold I had become. Never would I have thought I would feel so much power from a simple kiss of love. At that moment, the only thing I wanted was for him to never stop.

  His hands moved down my back, and he pulled me closer. My breasts pressed firmly to his rock hard chest with only thin layers of cotton between us. As our bodies merged, our kiss became more frenzied. Victor pressed his tongue deeper within my mouth. I responded by parting my lips wider and dancing my tongue with his. My breath mixed with his, my gasps swallowed by the kiss.

  The all consuming, most mind-blowing kiss.

  A kiss that I’d never known could exist before this day. With one single kiss, Victor Drayton—a man I’d never pictured spending my life with—had captured my heart even more than it had already been possessed.

  Slowly pulling away, he looked deep into my eyes. His own glazed over as desire coursed across his face. He ran a single finger along my jawline and traced it along the edge of my needy lips. A small seductive smile formed as he leaned forward and kissed the tip of my nose.

  We both stared at each other for a few moments, scanning each other’s face, searching for a peek into our souls.

  I took a deep breath before speaking. “What is your dream now? What is your new dream and vision now that the dolls are no more?”

  Victor lowered his mouth to mine again. He kissed with more passion this time, and with more excitement than before. His mouth continued to claim mine as I could feel his desire building—my desire building. I inhaled at the sudden change but pulled him closer wit
h my hands clinging desperately to his back.

  “You, Ivy. You are my new vision. My new dream. My new muse. Tell me to stop and I will. Tell me no, and I will back away this second.” Victor paused from his onslaught of kisses to examine my face. “But I have to warn you. My art becomes my life, my addiction, my everything. My art consumes every aspect of my life. It’s how many artists are. But I want you to be that art. I want you to fuel the hole that will be left with the end of the dolls. I want you, Ivy. Just you. But can you handle the artist?”

  I smiled at the look of concern mixed with passion on his face. “I want that, too. I want to be your muse every single day from this point on. But right now. Right this moment. All I want is to feel you inside of me.”

  “Ivy,” Victor moaned.

  He moved his mouth to my neck and started to place soft kisses, while his hand slowly worked its way under my nightgown. His palm cupped my breast, and I arched my back to meet his touch. His lips moved to my ear, and he lightly nipped. I could hear his ragged breathing and feel his body tense with pent up passion.

  I lowered my hand to his bulging erection pressed against his slacks. When my fingers made contact, Victor groaned in desire.

  “Fuck! I want to be soft. I want to be gentle… but you’re driving me crazy.”

  I undid his belt buckle, unbuttoned, and unzipped his pants in one fluid motion. “I don’t want soft. I don’t want gentle. I want you to take me, Mr. Drayton. Take me hard,” I demanded as I wrapped my hand around his throbbing cock.

  He grabbed and pushed me hard up against the wall. Reaching for my hands, guiding them above my head, holding them firm with one hand, his other ripped off my clothing. He yanked, he tugged, and he had me naked before I could even take my next breath. His lips pressed against mine with such force, such fierce command.

  I had never felt such strength, such domination with all the times we had been together. This time was fueled with a different type of passion and energy. Victor moved his lips to my neck and began to kiss, suck and bite. With my arms still pinned above my head by his massive hand, I had no choice but to allow Victor to do as he wished.